the merit in the president here. they will see a contrast the kind of dirt ball politics that tarnishes our democracy. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, four fallen american heroes return home. a heartbreaking and solemn scene today at andrews air force base. four caskets draped with american flags came off the plane preparing for their final resting place, the caskets scarying patriots are who lost their lives in libya this week. president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton honoring the lives of ambassador chris

stevens, sean smith, gl glen doherty and tyrone woods. the president talked about their great sacrifice and made it clear they would never be forgotten. >> four americans, four patriots, they loved this country and they chose to serve it and served it well. they had a mission and they believed in it. they knew the danger and they accepted it. they didn't simply embrace the american ideal, they lived it. they embodied it. the courage, the hope, and, yes, the idealism, that fundamental american belief that we can leave this world a little better than before. that's who they were and that's

who we are. and if we want to truly honor their memory, it's who we must always be. >> we must believe as these men did that we can lead this world a little better despite our grief. secretary of state clinton made it clear our mission is to honor these men and their legacy, united as americans. >> they help make the united states the greatest force for peace, progress, and human dignity the world has ever known. if the last few days teach us anything, let it be this, that this work and the men and women who risk their lives to do it are at the heart of what makes america great and good. so we will wipe away our tears,

stiffen our spines and face the future undaunted and we will do it together, protecting and helping one another just like sean, tyrone, glen, and chris always did. >> the secretary of state wants us to remember these american heroes, as a country united, facing a future together. its leadership and strength we need at this time in our history. today anti-american protests are spreading across the globe, through africa, the middle east, and asia. it is a tense scene across the region and today we're getting our first look at the scene of the attack inside the u.s. consulate in libya. awful images of where the four americans were killed.

without question, the turmoil is that until that region is a major issue in this country, a serious challenge that calls for all of us to be sober and unified as americans. and that's why the political gains that the romney campaign pulled this week were so off key and so wrong. they came before anyone knew the facts is now the least of it that we are now dealing with the acrimony back and forward. because even today governor romney repeated his ugly and fault claims that president obama sympathized with those that attacked our embassy. but it's the party he now leads, if that's the right word for it. a conservative radio host received cheers for standing behind romney's statements. senator john mccain attacked the president, questioning his leadership today.

this is a stark contrast to what our president was doing today and doing this week. he's been trying to bring americans together and do his job as our commander in chief. >> even as voices of suspicion and mistrust seek to divide countries and cultures from one another, the united states of america will never retreat from the world. we will never stop working for the dignity and freedom that every person deserves. whatever their creed, whatever their faith. that's the essence of american leadership. that's the spirit that sets us apart from other nations. this was their work in benghazi and this is the work we will carry on. most of all, even in our grief, we will beress lawsuit for we are americans and we hold our

head high knowing that because of these patriots, because of you, this country that we love will always shine as a light onto the world. >> shine as a light onto the world. as i watched the president and secretary of state today, i thought about leadership at its best is when you can do what is right and strong for the people you lead and not respond or be bathed into those that would belittle and in many ways diminish the significance of what is before us. i think the president and secretary of state showed leadership by staying above the politics no matter how ugly and nasty and off key it was and

putting their lives and legacies of those four men and their families as the priority to the american public. joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, now an nbc news political analyst and krystal ball, co-host of "the cycle" here on msnbc. thanks for being here tonight. >> my pleasure. >> thanks, reverend. >> for the life of me i can't express how important i think it was for the president and secretary of state to maintain that while even today there was no moratorium on theoppositioni this and demogog it. >> well, it won't work because president obama and secretary clinton showed tremendous grace under fire. early on the night that it happened and secretary clinton said we must remain clear eyed

in our grief, and that got it right. this is a complicated world. things happen for not one single reason. it's so complicated that it's important to wait until all of the facts are sorted out and that's what secretary clinton and president obama have done. i can think of no two cooler, smarter, well-oriented and well-grounded people to run our foreign affairs than the two of them and when you contrast it to the romney campaign, which not only jumped the gun on 9/11 but has made political statements in the midst of a growing and burr johning world crisis but the romney campaign like with the welfare ad and medicare story, they lined to the american people. governor romney made it sound like the original statement, which was put out by the embassy, was a statement that was put out after the violence that had occurred. in fact, it was a preemptive statement several hours before the violence trying to calm the

situation by saying that the united states respects all religions, that we have muslim americans who we value and cherish and that that film was important to all freedom loving and decency loving people in the world. that was a good and proper statement to get out there as a preemptive strike but governor romney made it sound and senator portman was on tv yesterday, they made it sound like that was our first response after the violence had occurred. of course it wasn't. after the violence occurred, president and secretary of state clinton were clear in their statements when we found the appropriate people, we would take the appropriate action. >> no doubt about it. >> but lying about it. >> krystal, that is what strikes me. it's one thing and in my opinion it's very bad -- to disrespect, disregard the gravity of this

moment and the burgeoning crisis. it was another to lie. >> right. >> but today on abc today, while the bodies were coming back, mitt romney was on and he refused to back down off his controversial statement about the embassy in cairo and he said, in fact, that the white house agreed with him. watch this. this is today. >> what i said was exactly the same conclusion that the white house reached, which was that the statement was inappropriate. that's why they backed away from it as well. >> they didn't say that it was showing sympathy for the attackers. >> he wiwell, i think the state was inappropriate. it was not directly and appropriate for the setting. i think it 14should have been taken down and i think the white house felt the same way. >> so no regrets. >> well, i think what was said at that time was not appropriate, that they continued to have that -- >> what he said at that time was wrong.

he said that they were sympathizing with the attackers and there had been no attack yet. and he refused today to back down and correct the fact that he said that they were sympathizing well terrorists, krystal. >> that's absolutely right. it's one thing you could almost forgive someone for making a mistake the first time out. but the inability to come back and apologize and say we got it wrong and then put out the proper statement and strike the proper tone is what has really been lacking this week. and i'll say, before the crisis this week, there were a lot of questions being raised to paul ryan and mitt romney about the details of their economic plans, the fact that it didn't add up, that they hadn't told the american people what they actual leap wanted to do with the economy. and now i think what we're seeing this week is that their foreign policy also doesn't added a up. they have a lot of tough talk. they like to pretend that they have, you know, a tougher stance than the president and the world

would be a better place if they were in policy. they can't fill in the blampbls. they don't know where they are headed in foreign policy and their tough talk, which we heard during the bush years, has caused a whole lot of trouble in the world. the american people are seeing, not only did he jump the gun, but he was unable to correct that problem and when it comes down to it, he doesn't know where he stands in the world and there are no details there for the american people to grasp. >> now, governor rendell, we heard today from richard williamson, one of romney's closest advisers on foreign policy, and he served under george w. bush. and he really got ugly. he said -- and i'm quoting you -- there's a pretty compelling story that you had a president romney, you'd be in a different situation. the president can't even keep

track of who's an ally or not. this is amateur hour. it's amateur hour. john mccain also blamed this on the president's leadership and blamed the crisis in the middle east on the president. let me play this to you. >> in the long term, everything is unraveling in that part of the world because the united states is weak. this president does not understand the importance of american leadership and he continues to want to, in his own words, lead from behind. >> now, when you look at williamson's statement and mccain's, like the president in some way was weak and caused the kind of attack and was able -- we're weak and therefore people feel that they can do stuff to us, but the fact is, there were 12 attacks under george bush.

12 12 embassy attacks under george bush, not to mention 9/11 came into the country and attacked. this is absolutely ludicrous to say that president obama in some way is responsible for the crime that led to the attacks when, in fact, their own republican president, his predecessor, there were 12 embassy attacks under his presidency. >> well, sure there is. they are accusing a president who took out osama bin laden, who has had more successful drone attacks than ever in the country's history, who has used the american armed forces to essentially bring al qaeda to its knees? they are accusing him of being weak in they are accusing the obama administration of amateur hour? amateur hour is mitt romney sticking his foot in his mouth three times in one day. it's a tragedy where four americans were killed that was

factually incorrect and refusing to correct that line later. amateur hour is making shoot from the hip statements about foreign affairs. look, foreign affairs are complicated. it's difficult to sort out what's happening. we always must make sure that if we are going to be strong, we are strong against the right people. as secretary clinton said, no matter what the situation is, we must be clear eyed, wait until we get all of the facts and then we act in thatre ress lutui. when the facts are in and we know who is responsible for this, the obama administration will help bring them to justice. >> krystal ball and governor ed rendell, thank you for your time tonight. catch krystal on "the cycle" at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. coming up, these words actually came out of governor

romney's mouth. >> the challenge that i'll have in the debate is that the president tends to -- how shall i say it -- say things that aren't true. >> did he say that with a straight face? and the birthers are still at it. first he sympathizes with terrorists. and now an informal romney adviser is taking birther accusations so seriously that he might kick president obama off the ballot. didn't we already settle this? and we've got breaking news out of wisconsin tonight. huge news on scott walker's collective bargaining law. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less expensive option than a traditional lawyer? at legalzoom you get personalized services

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breaking news tonight, a wisconsin judge has struck down key parts of the anti-union law spearheaded by republican governor scott walker. the judge says the law violates both the state and u.s. constitution and is null and void. the associated press reports it's not yet clear if the law immediately suspends the law but a walker spokesperson says they will appeal. john nichols from "the nation" magazine says the ruling will affect tens of thousands of wisconsinites. the law affects most public workers. this has sparked a recall election of scott walker. this is after a lawsuit brought by teachers in milwaukee.

it's a big development and big rebuke to forces in the gop. we'll be watching it closely and we'll be right back. to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪

when i was growing up back in brooklyn, i see kids get called out for something they definitely did. and the only defense was to turn around and accuse other folks of doing the exact same thing. that's what mitt romney's doing right now. the man who's running the most fact-free campaign in modern history is now accusing president obama of twisting the truth. >> the challenge that i'll have in the debate is that the

president tends to, how shall i say it, say things that aren't true in attacking his opponents. i've looked at prior debates and in that kind of case it's difficult to say, well, am i going to spend my time correcting things that aren't quite accurate or am i going to spend my time talking about things that i want to talk about? >> i can't believe what i'm hearing. romney has been misleading by example this entire campaign. his own pollster said, quote, we're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers. and now he's accusing president obama of not telling the truth? as bill clinton said last week, it takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did. joining me now is melissa harris-perry, host of the melissa harris-perry show here on msnbc and e.j. dionne, an msnbc contributor. thank you both for being on the

show tonight. >> good to be with you. >> melissa, hasn't romney's fact-free campaign. >> certainly there's two pieces of it. one is sort of just the inability of having a governing mind set that says when there is a world crisis you pause first. you engage in finding out what the facts even are. you remember that as reagan said, the politics only go to the water's edge and then once we get to the edge of our country, we are all americans. so that's part of it. but the other part of it has been within the domestic politics of the campaign, the willingness of both the romney and ryan candidacies to simply distort their own records of something that is inaccurate and isn't true and consistently to distort president obama's record. >> now, e.j., it's not only limited to this week as melissa

said, they distort the record. let me play for you some information about the president's campaign that there romney has said in the past. >> i'm going to make this very clear. unlike president obama, i will not raise taxes on the middle class of american. >> the president is taking the work requirement out of welfare. >> boo. >> yeah. >> he said, you know, if you had a business, you didn't build it. someone else did that. >> so raise taxes on the middle class, taking the work requirement out of welfare, you've got a business you didn't build it, none of which the president did or said, e.j. >> well, right. i think if you had a buzzer on this show you could play it after every single one of those. you go back to this week, at the very heart of romney's argument this week was this idea that the administration apologized, apologized somehow on this terrible incident at the

embassy. they didn't apologize for america. he didn't. if you go back to the statement they like to point to, it was actually a statement where president obama was saying to the europeans, hey, wait a minute, we make some mistakes but you guys can be reflective unamerican. and this whole issue on welfare and the other issues, those are flatly untrue. so i do -- i was as surprised as anyone when mitt romney said what he said about the debates and i can only think that this is about working the rafts or working out some strategy if he doesn't manage to respond to attacks that turn out to be true. >> and you know, melissa, it was interesting. the american people already have shown their view in a cnn orc poll, when the question was raised who is more honest and trustworthy, 53% said honest and

trustworthy. >> and romney knows that he's going into these three debates, that you're not going to turn in the election season. he has never consistently showing gaps and all of the key swing states, certainly enough for president obama to win this election. what does he have to do? you know what, as we might say among my friends, he's got to throw shade. he's got to throw shade like a big old beach umbrella and make it seem as though the words that president obama is going to say in these debates are suspect from the beginning. he has to make americans believe that this president is inherently dishonest and thereforewhen he hwhen he has trouble, he can say this guy is dishonest. >> well, he's going to have a problem with that, e.j., because in a pugh research poll with

"the washington post," 42% of words chosen when people were surveyed about romney were negative. liar, out of touch, arrogant, fact. these are words 42% of those surveyed connected to or said about mr. romney. he's got his work cut out for him and only three debates. >> right. well, i think what you've seen this week is romney being very aware, number one, that the election is not going his way. president obama got some kind of bounce out of these conventions and he's ahead in the key battleground states. so romney knows that he needs to shape things up and that he has two weaknesses have have been highlighted out there. one is that the americans, by substantial numbers, trust president obama more on foreign policy than they trust him. so they decided to take this flyer, i think a reckless statement, on the libyan tragedy

and now the republicans came in for a lot of criticism from nonpartisan sources on the lack of truth, let us say, of certain charges named at the republican convention. and so his way to counter that is to come right out and say, actually, it's president obama who has the problem with truth. i think what you're seeing is a campaign that knows things are not going its way. so here they are hoping that they can change the direction of the election. >> yes. it's called des sper r desperation. you know, whoever is elected president is also the commander in chief. we started talking about the fact that you have four americans that died in the line of duty. >> that's right. >> and you would think that the commander in chief, as he did, and the secretary of state he appointed and who aspires to be that would put everything aside to respect that because there is no more serious obligation you

have as commander in chief than to deal with someone under your leadership that actually lost their lives. >> the distinction between president obama -- and i would include secretary of state hillary clinton, the obama administration, and mitt romney as a candidate and the romney campaign, the distinction could not have been made more stark and more clear than in this moment. i think for me the thing that is most disappointing is because of his reaction, because of his behavior towards the president, we now are having a conversation about mitt romney. this is a serious issue internationally. >> and it's growing. >> that's right. this is what we need to be talking b he's distracting us. >> that's exactly right. melissa, e.j., thank you for your time. be sure to watch melissa harris perry on saturdays and sundays at 10:00 a.m. on msnbc.

coming up, romney and birthers. you won't believe what he's trying to do in kansas. paul ryan trying to hide his true values. but the truth came out today and he didn't have to talk. stay with us. my volt is the best vehicle i've ever driven. i bought the car because of its efficiency. i bought the car because i could eliminate gas from my budget. birthers.

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today conservatives gathered in washington for the annual values voter summit where they reaffirm their traditional values and toss red meat out to their base. and the big headliner today, none other than the gop vice presidential nominee, paul ryan. >> it has a nice ring. for everyone who loves this country. >> listen to those cheers. the crowd loves him. he's their guy or the company he keeps and he was joined on that stage today by michele bachmann, rand paul, steve king, tony

perkins, a celebration of right-wing views out of the mainstream. anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-gay. while paul ryan tried to under his views today, governor romney in the swing state of virginia, removing to restrict a woman's right to choose. the state up held regulations that could force many women's health clinics to shut their doors. these are the real values he stands for. just because he didn't say it doesn't mean he doesn't believe it. watch what they do, not just what they say. joining me now is frank schafer, columnist for "the huffington post" and author of crazy for god and washington correspondent for "the guardian." thanks for joining me. >> thank you. >> anna marie, let me start with you. paul ryan is hiding his views,

it seems. you know, he didn't go into a lot of detail today but clearly being at this conference stating the views of his, let's say, the crowd of speakers that were with him, and what he's advocated before clearly is a very open confirmation of some of the most conservative social views on the political landscape today. >> it's true. paul ryan is actually pretty far off of the mainstream when it comes to his social view and at least we know that about him, i have to say. that's something in the past he's actually been open about, vocal about, and i'm sure the reason paul ryan was in front of that crowd today is because the romney campaign is quite sure that he will get a welcome embrace. the question here, though, is they know that christian right likes paul ryan. they know that they don't like romney.

but they are supposed to be pivoting to independent voters. they are supposed to be pivoting to mainstream voters, that the value voters want to talk about and want to cheer about. to me this is almost campaign malpractice, to put your main surrogate, who's values are so divergent from mainstream america. >> let me go to you for a minute, frank. today he talked about big government. he talked about things that he may go to independent voters but he was talking at this kind of conference and these are the kinds of things not only that they believe but let's look at what he has said and what he believes in the past. >> planned parenthood, i'm just not for federal planning of abortions. >> the dream act as noble as some of those ideas are, it's two wrongs trying to make a right. it's really not about contraception. it's about violating our first amendment rights to freedom of

conscience. it's mandating that everyone else pay for everybody else's free birth control and contraception. don't ask, don't tell, i don't think in the middle of combat that that was going to work. >> now, frank, you come from the evangelical community. you know that right-wing community. why is paul ryan hiding? why wasn't he talking all of this today? >> well, you know, the romney campaign is playing a double game but they seem to have forgotten that we live in a media age, they play their words back to them a few minutes after they say them. they have a political amnesia when it suits them. let me say something very clearly, as someone who is a chri christian, there is something different between the god nuts who are taking over the republican party and mainstream religious america.

there are a lot of progressive religious people out there. there is a movie called hell bound that looks into the god nuts and their look into the law. the far christian right divides the world into lost and save, real americans like us and everybody else. they apply this to politics. so when ryan gets in front of them, be he talks in coded messages that says, hey, guys, wing, wink, nod, nod, i can't say this stuff to you because you know it will get our campaign in trouble. it all falls apart because you can't get away with two-timing these issues. >> it's important, frampg, that we point out that it's not that our christians and ministers don't have firm beliefs, but we also have tolerance but what they are doing is intolerant and hateful in many ways. >> ryan has turned the christian message on its head. he believes in a scorched earth policy where people who don't make it economically are the

dirt under your finger nails and you have to put up with them because you need drone and laborers and that's rand's view of the world. you know, his pretty boy boy scout all-american ruberic is going to fall apart because when his base, these christian conservatives really look at what he believes about rand who or when they look at mitt romney and realize his lack of patriotism and being willing to feed the flames of worldwide revolt against the united states interests because of this stupid 14-minute clip that got put on youtube, these guys are playing a very dirty game. romney is a liar and believes nothing and if i could put it this way, he believes nothing and his running mate believes too many things.

ine rand, it's the real thing. we have ahere. >> ana marie, one of the things that was interesting today is mr. ryan's backers. while he didn't say much about his own social conservative policies, check out this. check out the wall behind ryan. those names behind him, the backers of the conference, the american family association, they oppose same-sex marriage, anti-muslim and preaches religious intolerance and promotes ex-guy therapy to cure homosexuality. then there's jerry's liberty university which is not employeed teachers or accepts students who are homosexual. and against same-sex marriage, civil unions and adoptions by homosexuals and, of course, the host of the summit, the family research council. they oppose and lobby against

lgbt rights, abortion, divorce, and embryonic stem cell research. so if you just look at the picture, it's worth a thousand definitions of the companies and sponsors that he was speaking for. >> it's true. the values that the value voters stand for are not the values that most christians probably would like to preach, nor most americans. i mean, this is a very small sliver, not just of evangelicals and not just the american population but republicans. most republicans, as surveys show us, are not that intolerant about guy marriage, are not that intolerant about don't ask, don't tell, have generous attitudes about welfare than the voters or the values voters at this conference here. it is really a mystery to me why the romney campaign continues to pander to them. i know that paul ryan was speaking in code and did not

talk about his own extreme values so much when he talked too today but he is implicitly supporting them. the images you showed indicate that it's explicit. when you're winning issues, the economy. when your winning issue is getting people back to work, why do you throw light on these divisive issues that americans are willing to live and let live when you allow them to work, which is what romney is supposedly going to give them. >> frank schafer and ana marie cox, thank you both for your time. >> thank you. coming up, romney and the birthers. shocking but happening now. that's next. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? yes, ma'am. 100 calories. yea...i'm gonna need some proof. we get that a lot... let me put you on webcan... see? hearty vegetables... lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth that tastes indulgent -- but isn't...

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adviser to the romney campaign. last night he refused to tell talking points memo whether he believes the president is a u.s. citizen. now think about, that the man in charge of elections in one of the 50 united states is refusing to say whether he thinks our president is an american. outrageous stuff and that's just the political climate we're in right now. joining me now is joe madison, nationally syndicated radio host of "mornings with madison." thank you for being here. >> thank you, i guess. this is crazy. >> let me ask you, is there any coincident that this birther stuff is coming back as this campaign heats up? >> no. and i think it's a sign of desperation. that's number one. number two, mitt romney's father, where was he born in mitt romney's father was born in mexico, if i'm not mistaken. this is a sign of desperation

and also remember yesterday limbaugh suggested that almaleki kwid da, in essence, gave al qaeda over to make obama look good. >> and the insult of that joke is not only an insult to the president, it's an insult to the s.e.a.l.s and military men. let me tell you what is frightening is sticking with some people in october of 2008, 16% of republicans believe that president obama was a muslim. in july of this year, it doubled. 30% of americans believed that. i mean, this is incredible. not that there's anything wrong with being a muslim but this propaganda of making him other

than american and something else, they've actually doubled in amount of republicans that believed this. >> and you see him and his family go to church on easter sunday here on washington, d.c., on christmas. they worship and ame churches that you've preached at and i've been to. this is just, again, an attempt to make him something than a american other. it's not going to work. here's the deal. come the presidential debate, someone has to look mitt romney in the eye and say, do you believe that the president of the united states is a u.s. citizen and once mitt romney answers that, that puts the rest of his supporters who believe this foolishness to bed. >> well, it's not only there on the romney national campaign level, don't forget this guy

kobach in kansas was a major part of the gop platform-forming committee and had a lot to do with their convention. let's go to a state level where a flyer showing paul newby speaking at asheville's tea party event. now, his extreme hopes, the asheville tea party, compared president obama to hitler, supports states rights and null if i indication and claims 70 socialists in congress. this is who the supreme court justice is speaking for. >> this is what they accuse of us. as if we need hitler or socialists to tell us the problem that we are facing in this country. this is just instead of jim

crow, it's sophisticated cousin james crow, esquire. >> joe madison, thanks for being on our show tonight. >> you do the same, reverend. >> we'll be right back. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself.

they became targets of horrific

anti-guy mailers, so extreme we can't even show them. last night the extreme fight came to an end when new york finally held the state primaries and the results are promising. he won the primary by a wide margin. steven salon leads by 42 votes and roy mcdonald trails his opponent by just 138 votes. those races will be decided by absentee ballots. james alesi isn't seeking re-election. no matter the final outcomes, the results show that attitudes are changing. now, i may not agree with everything that these state senators believe in but they stood up to their parties and voted for their contents. i'm in the party of abraham lincoln and i'm very proud of that. it's everybody's included and i feel that's very po